Category Archives: Society

Nurseries in England charging extra fees to cover funding gap, campaigners say

Posted on by

Head of Early Years Alliance says additional charges paid by parents represent ‘cross-subsidy’

Parents of nursery children in England are being charged extra fees to cover for government underfunding of free childcare hours, with some paying thousands of pounds a year for consumables such as food, wipes and nappies, campaigners have said.

The comments came as the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, asked the competition watchdog to investigate hidden extra charges that parents have encountered when trying to access government-funded childcare.

Continue reading...

Opposition divided: battle among Iranian regime’s opponents plays out on London streets

Posted on by

Supporters of Reza Pahlavi, exiled son of the late shah, are clashing with those who oppose a return of monarchy

Wearing a bucket hat, a blue Adidas hoodie and khaki shorts, Tony Mohraz, also known as 021kid, chest-bumps a friend in front of a memorial wall in Golders Green, in north London.

Photographs can be seen behind him of those who were killed protesting against the Iranian regime. As a large lion and sun flag used in Iran before the Islamic revolution is waved overhead, Mohraz starts to rap.

Continue reading...

Labour to expand youth work experience and training schemes

Posted on by

Announcement comes after former minister Alan Milburn says Britain has neglected a generation of young people

Ministers are expanding youth work experience and training schemes, after Alan Milburn warned Britain is spending £25 keeping young people on benefits for every £1 spent helping them into work.

Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, will announce plans for 300,000 extra work experience placements over the next three years as the government attempts to tackle what the minister described as a “quiet crisis” in youth employment.

Continue reading...

Bridget Phillipson orders review of hidden childcare charges hitting parents

Posted on by

Education secretary asks UK watchdog to look into nursery practices, including non-refundable deposits and add-ons

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is ordering a competition review of hidden childcare charges amid concerns parents are being hit with extra charges, despite the government’s flagship expansion of funded childcare hours.

Phillipson has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) asking it to examine practices including non-refundable deposits, compulsory add-ons and restrictions attached to government-funded childcare places.

Continue reading...

Reeves’s tax cut on children’s meals a political ‘soundbite’, say restaurateurs

Posted on by

Chancellor’s measure to help families save money during summer holidays ‘won’t make any difference’

Cutting tax on children’s meals is a political “soundbite” that will make little difference to families or businesses, restaurateurs have said.

This week, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced a temporary reduction in VAT on the children’s menu in restaurants from 20% to 5% between June and September, in order to help families with the cost of living crisis and offer a boost to the hospitality sector.

Continue reading...

Taliban ‘legitimising child marriage’ with new law, activists warn

Posted on by

Up to 70% of girls may be in early or forced marriages but law now makes divorce impossible if husbands disagree

Child marriage appears to have been legally recognised for the first time by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as activists say “shameful” new laws make it almost impossible for girls and young women to seek divorce against their husbands’ will.

There are no official statistics on forced and underage marriages in Afghanistan, but activists say it has risen at an alarming rate in recent years, driven by the ban on girls being in education after the age of 11.

Continue reading...

Single-sex toilets must exclude transgender people, says EHRC

Posted on by

Updated code of practice covering England, Wales and Scotland also relates to changing rooms and follows supreme court ruling

Single-sex toilets and changing rooms in England, Wales and Scotland must exclude transgender men and women, according to a new code of practice from the equalities watchdog.

But the long-awaited guidance also says that businesses and service providers have to offer practical alternatives such as gender-neutral toilets for people who do not wish to use services for their biological sex.

Continue reading...

DWP pursued woman’s employer for nonexistent ‘benefit debt’

Posted on by

Exclusive: Employer of woman who cares for disabled mother was asked to deduct ‘debt’ from salary despite court ruling she had nothing to pay

A woman providing full-time unpaid care for her elderly disabled mother says her job was put in jeopardy after welfare officials wrongly pursued her employer for a nonexistent “benefit debt” quashed by the courts nearly four years ago.

The 44-year-old woman said she was staggered when the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wrote to her employer out of the blue this month demanding they deduct the long-forgotten universal credit overpayment “debt” from her salary.

Continue reading...

Police say extra funds to hunt grooming gangs in England and Wales will ‘likely fall short’

Posted on by

Government announces a near tenfold increase but forces fear it will not cover anticipated cost of dedicated teams

Keir Starmer’s government has announced a near tenfold increase in funding for detectives hunting grooming gangs but has been warned by police that the amount will “likely fall short” of what is needed.

Operation Beaconport, which was set up last year to review closed group-based sexual exploitation inquiries in England and Wales, will receive nearly £38m, a Home Office statement said – up from £4m given last year.

Continue reading...

Two-thirds of NHS nurses believe lack of staff is putting patients at risk, survey finds

Posted on by

Union to urge ministers to bring in mandatory minimum staffing, as ageing population increases demand for care

Almost two-thirds of nurses believe there are too few of them working in the NHS to keep patients safe and give them proper care, a survey has revealed.

Understaffing and the increasingly complex medical needs posed by an ageing population are creating a “deadly mix” for patients, the Royal College of Nursing warned on Monday.

64% expected to cut services this year.

83% feared financial constraints will impact planned patient care and 78% worry it will affect emergency care.

57% expected to cut their clinical staffing this year to save money.

Continue reading...

British Palestinians feel ‘gaslit’ and unable to speak out, says leading activist

Posted on by

Ahead of Nakba march, Sara Husseini says many feel they are being treated as suspects rather than victims of mass suffering

British Palestinians feel unable to speak openly about Israel’s war on Gaza, the director of the British Palestinian Committee has said, amid what campaigners believe is a growing climate of hostility around Palestinian identity and activism in the UK.

Some were afraid to wear Palestinian symbols at work or display Arabic jewellery and keffiyehs in public, Sara Husseini said.

Continue reading...

WHO head tells countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases

Posted on by

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praises Spain’s ‘compassion and solidarity’ in evacuating virus-hit cruise ship

The head of the World Health Organization has warned countries to prepare for more hantavirus cases after the outbreak onboard the MV Hondius, and thanked Spain for the “compassion and solidarity” it had shown by taking in the stricken cruise ship and evacuating its passengers and crew.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to follow the WHO’s advice and recommendations, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.

Continue reading...

GPs and hospitals in England to be required to share data to create single patient records

Posted on by

Wes Streeting says legislation will save lives, but GPs are concerned about liability for errors introduced by other providers

GPs and hospitals will be required to share patient data under legislation to be announced in the king’s speech on Wednesday.

Legislation to create a single patient record (SPR) for each person, which would be used across all healthcare providers, is part of a £10bn digitisation of the health service.

Continue reading...

‘I was in a terrible state’: actor David Morrissey tells how social anxiety led him to alcoholism

Posted on by

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Liverpool-born actor says depression and anxiety followed death of his father when he was 15

The actor David Morrissey has spoken of how “terrible” social anxiety contributed to him becoming an alcoholic.

“I am a recovering alcoholic,” Morrissey, who has been sober for 21 years, told Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. “Drinking first was about anxiety. I’ve had this terrible social anxiety and that helped me get through it.”

Continue reading...

Nobel laureate’s smuggled memoir details beatings and neglect in Iranian prisons

Posted on by

Writing by Narges Mohammadi, arrested 14 times for activism, offers a disturbing insight into treatment

In an exclusive extract of writing smuggled from prison in Iran, the Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has described the “torture” of solitary confinement, and her systematic medical neglect by the prison system.

The writing from the past decade will be part of a soon to be published memoir that gives a rare and alarming insight into the treatment of Mohammadi, who is in critical condition. It details beatings, constant interrogations, deprivation of medical care and long stretches in solitary confinement during her numerous imprisonments.

Continue reading...

Worried Britons ‘prepping’ for major disruption with stash of tins and cash, survey shows

Posted on by

Fears over a natural disaster or cyber attack are pushing households into contingency planning, Link survey shows

Millions of Britons are “prepping” for a potential “major disruptive event” by keeping a stash of cash at home, stockpiling tinned goods or ensuring they have a battery-powered torch close to hand, new data suggests.

With war raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, extreme weather becoming more frequent, and warnings that the UK’s critical infrastructure is at risk from cyber-attacks and power outages, many people feel the world has become a more dangerous and chaotic place.

Continue reading...

Cook more at home to reduce ultra-processed food intake, say cardiologist groups

Posted on by

‘Clinical consensus statement’ also urges heart doctors to advise patients to not eat late at night, and chew slowly

Want to reduce your intake of ultra-processed food? If so, cook at home more often, don’t eat late at night and chew your food more slowly.

Those are among some of the tips doctors have offered to help people limit the amount of UPF they consume given the acute and growing danger it poses to human health worldwide.

Continue reading...

‘Terrifying’: political candidate violently abused and schoolboy thrown into bin, antisemitism royal commission hears

Posted on by

The third day of hearings of the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion heard further evidence from Jewish Australians

Violent antisemitic abuse was allowed to proliferate across a Jewish political candidate’s social media as part of a broader trend designed to intimidate Jewish Australians from public life, a royal commission has heard.

Joshua Kirsh launched a campaign as an independent candidate for the New South Wales upper house in late 2025 but found his advertisements online bombarded by antisemitic tropes, abuse and threats.

Continue reading...

Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters

Posted on by

Party leader says vote for Labour or Greens in closely run seats will result in Reform victory at local elections

Voters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.

The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it was a “straight fight” between his party and Reform at the English local elections.

Continue reading...

Man produces sperm from testicular tissue frozen as a child in breakthrough trial

Posted on by

Exclusive: Sperm re-transplant offers hope that boys left infertile by chemotherapy could have biological children one day

In a groundbreaking fertility trial, a man whose testicular tissue was frozen before he underwent chemotherapy as a child to be re-transplanted 16 years later has been able to produce sperm.

It is the first time a transplant of cryopreserved prepubertal testicular tissue has been demonstrated to restore sperm production in an adult patient. The 27-year-old man had the sample frozen when he was 10, before undergoing potent chemotherapy as part of treatment for sickle cell disease.

Continue reading...